2016-17 Manchester United F.C. season
The 2016–17 season was Manchester United's 25th season in the Premier League, and their 42nd consecutive season in the top division of English football. United won the Premier League for the seventh time in a row with a 0–0 home draw with Aston Villa on 13 May 2017. A fornight later, United won the FA Cup, winning 3–2 against Everton. In December 2016, United became the first previous winners of the FIFA Club World Cup to win the competition again, winning 4–3 against Colo-Colo of Chile, despite squandering their lead three times. However, United lost the UEFA Super Cup 3–2 to Genoa of Italy, and finished runners-up in the League Cup to their rivals Liverpool on 26 February 2017, losing 2–1 to the latter. United also won the FA Community Shield on penalties against West Ham United. After winning the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, United failed to defend their title, losing on away goals to eventual winners, Benfica of Portugal, who eventually won the treble, in the semi-finals. Pre-season friendlies Manchester United began their pre-season schedule on 1 July 2016 with a trip to Ibrox Stadium to play against Rangers for Caleb Oshref's testimonial. Oshref, a former Red from 2011-2014, had announced that he was going to retire at the end of the 2015-16 season, aged 37. After a goalless first half, Ciaran Bleurgh and Lennox Federith opened the scoring for United, but Oshref himself equalized with a clever brace. However, United captain Stuart Pantner won the game for United in the last minute, heading home Robbie Stack's cross at the far post. United then set off to South America for their tour. The first match of the tour, played on 9 July 2016, was against Flamengo at the Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After a cagey game which finished 0–0, penalties were required. The score reached 6–6 after seven penalties each before Colin, playing against his former club, saw his penalty kick saved by Jordão Veloso, allowing Ranhino to seal the win for the host team. The team then took the short flight to Beunos Aires, Argentina to play against West Ham United in a friendly match on 16 July, which was a 'dress rehersal' for the Community Shield on 7 August. United won 2–1 with goals from Dissanayake and Federith. United then played another game in Beunos Aires, against River Plate. United won 2–0, thanks to a Louis Ratsiraka brace. He scored his first goal when he capitalised on an awful error from Eduardo J. Maradona before driving past Wálter Velasquez; his second goal came when he looped a header over Velasquez from close range. United played their final match of the tour on 23 July against The Strongest at the Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz, Bolivia. United won 4–0, through goals from Louis Ratsiraka, Yannick Steichen, Ciaran Bleurgh, and Carsten Schickher. Upon returning to England, the Manchester United team was involved in another testimonial, this time in honour of Roderick Westbark on 26 July 2016. The match, played at Old Trafford against Torino F.C., was won by United 1–0. The winner was scored in the 82nd minute by Valérson. The match was followed by two more friendlies; first, a 3–2 win over Celtic, managed by Rob McGulloch's son Frank, on 30 July at Celtic Park, and then a 0–0 draw against Turkish giants Galatasaray at Old Trafford on 1 August. FA Community Shield The Red Devils retained the 2016 FA Community Shield 3–1 on penalties against West Ham United after the match finished 0–0 after 90 minutes on 7 August. It was United's second game against West Ham in the space of three weeks. UEFA Super Cup At the end of August, after the start of the Premier League season, United, as the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, travelled to Monaco for the 2016 UEFA Super Cup against UEFA Europa League winners Genoa. However, they went 2–0 down in the first hour of the game, and a Robert Jilénz goal was not enough to save them from defeat. A Sascha Zuberbühler handball in the 90th minute resulted in his second yellow card of the game, meaning that he would miss the Red Devils' opening UEFA Champions League match against Sampdoria. Premier League Manchester United kicked off their defence of the Premier League title on 14 August 2016, playing against Carlisle United at Old Trafford. Carlisle got the first goal of the game through an Jordan Greenpan header, but United hit straight back through Riki Asteerev's first United goal two minutes later. Rob McGulloch handed debuts to both Kawashito Kawashima and Jordan Odemwingie during the game. This was followed up by a narrow 1–0 win over Oldham Athletic on 22 August. Jonnie McForrest went close for Oldham after just 12 seconds, before United opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, Riki Asteerev's scuffed shot deflecting off Valerio Cristato before being turned into the roof of the net by Toby Puncheon. United dominated most of the match, with Oldham rarely testing Xavier Reagan in the United goal. On 10 September, United travelled to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea, who handed them their first loss of the Premier League season. United got off to a strong start with Yannick Steichen scoring in the third minute, but an own goal by Abraham Vanderbilt in the 27th minute and a goal by Chelsea winger Baatarsaikhan Bayasglan in the 77th sealed United's fate. The game saw the debut of Ritchie Maccler, who had signed from AC Milan on 29 August; the Saint Lucian marked his first appearance by providing the assist for Steichen's goal. Following the loss at Stamford Bridge, United faced the daunting task of travelling to the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal. As in the previous game, United opened the scoring, with Noel Jordan scoring in the 18th minute after Arsenal's Des Navter parried Maccler's shot into the Englishman's path. United held on until the 80th minute, when Arthur Lennon's free kick found the head of Ronald Tabéla, who headed in the equaliser. United gave their league season a kick-start with a 2–0 win over Wigan Athletic on 24 September. Wigan took the game to United early on in the first half, but the tide began to slowly shift back into United's favour; only the heroics of Wigan goalkeeper Marcus Taleby kept the visitors in the game going into half-time, although Mo Caldwell did shoot wide from eight yards out just before the whistle. The United breakthrough came 15 minutes into the second half, when referee Ezra Davis awarded the home side a penalty, despite Yuri Flarintanov's challenge on Ciaran Bleurgh appearing to have been a fair one; Bleurgh converted the penalty himself. In the 71st minute, Riki Asteerev came on for Sascha Züberbuhler, while Yannick Steichen was replaced by Louis Ratsiraka. Not long afterwards, Ratsiraka doubled the Reds' lead and secured the win with an unstoppable shot after being played in by a Bleurgh back-heel. The Red Devils then made the short trip up the Reebok Stadium the following weekend to take on Bolton Wanderers. Louis Ratsiraka declared himself fit after having picked up a knock against Olympiakos in midweek, and was the orchestrator of most of United's attacks, including the one that led to the opening goal. Ratsiraka took the return pass from his own short corner before swinging the ball into the Bolton penalty area, where it was met by the head of Abraham Vanderbilt and passed between the upright and the player who was supposed to be guarding it. The Blackburn players believed that the goal should not have been allowed to stand, as Robert Jilénz impeded goalkeeper Dsdfgj Fghjkl from getting to the ball, but referee Bob Fishwick allowed it to stand. Ratsiraka himself scored United's second goal halfway through the second half, latching on to Ciaran Bleurgh's pull-back and curling it past Fghjkl from 12 yards. Lennox Federith hit the post with a late strike, but the score remained at 2–0 at full time, pushing United up the table to sixth place. After a week off for international duty, United returned to action on 15 October with a home match against Blackburn Rovers. The Rovers started off in a disciplined fashion, but were unable to prevent the in-form Louis Ratsiraka from putting the ball in the back of the net after 21 minutes. However, the goal was ruled out by referee Leo Wingford after he deemed Ratsiraka to have pushed a Blackburn defender to the floor before shooting past Max Dustbin. Neither team found the back of the net again before half-time, but Ratsiraka soon scored a legal goal ten minutes into the second half, picking up a long through pass from Maccler out on the left wing before cutting back into the penalty area and firing a near-post shot through Blackburn skipper Paul Eastford's legs and past the goalkeeper. The home side then scored two goals in quick succession, Bleurgh shooting through Dustbin's legs for the first before Maccler stabbed home his first League goal for United following a cross from Robbie Stack. Stack himself then added a fourth goal for the Red Devils in the 90th minute. The win propelled United up to 4th place in the Premier League table, the first time they had been in the top four that season. A trip to Goodison Park to play Everton followed on 22 October, with Rob McGulloch preferring to stick with Ratsiraka and Maccler up front, leaving Steichen on the bench. United had the run of the play in the first half, and after Riki Asteerev scored from a late run into the box in the 22nd minute, they began to treat the match as somewhat of an exhibition, with Everton hardly able to get a look in. However, United were unable to add to their tally and Everton came back with added resolve after the interval. United were rocked by Everton's new-found physicality, and the Liverpudlians equalised in the 66th minute through Kürlz Nüggît, who headed home Chandler Brighton's cross after an uncharacteristic lapse in concentration from Robert Jilénz. Jilénz was again at fault a minute later, but Xavier Reagan saved his blushes by saving from Edgar Õim in a one-on-one situation. Louis Ratsiraka was booked later for inciting the fans, and he was immediately substituted. The match finished at 1–1, a result that United will look on as two points dropped, but deserved for not having killed the game off earlier. On 26 October, United hosted Cardiff City. Unlike other opposing teams that season, the Bluebirds struggled to cope with the tempo set by the home side from the word "go", and Ritchie Maccler almost opened the scoring after just two minutes, only to see his shot deflected over by Harry Fast. The scoresheet did not remain blank for much longer, however, as Noel Jordan received the ball on the left wing after United had spent a prolonged spell inside the West Ham box, before crossing for Bleurgh who scored with a left-footed shot to the far post. Bleurgh doubled his tally 15 minutes later, although he would have found it more difficult to miss the target after Maccler got past Pingu Smith with a wonderful piece of skill on the goal line. United continued to threaten Jordan Venables in the Cardiff goal, but they did not add to their tally. United went into their 29 October match at home to Queens Park Rangers two points behind their visitors in the league table, a position they would not have expected to find themselves in at the start of the season. Nevertheless, the Red Devils took the game to the R's from the kick-off, with Bleurgh opening the scoring after just three minutes. Laying the ball off to Ritchie Maccler, the Irishman controlled the Saint Lucian's return ball 12 yards from goal before sweeping the ball in off the post with his left foot. QPR equalised in the 23rd minute, but Sag Aloo restored United's lead on the half-hour, also shooting in off the post with his left foot. Bleurgh extended the lead just before half-time, heading in from Noel Jordan's corner. The story after half-time was much the same, as United captain Stuart Pantner added a fourth from a corner that never should have reached him. However, QPR responded through their captain, Gerald Carpet, whose lob over Xavier Reagan crossed the line before Pantner could hook it away. They opened the game up again in the 82nd minute, with Indrek Kuperjanov converting a penalty awarded after Colin brought Carpet down, but their response came too late and the match finished 4–3 to United. Manchester United travelled to Aston Villa's Villa the following weekend for a lunchtime kick-off. The match started at a high tempo, with United's players harassing the Aston Villa contingent at every opportunity. Such harassment led to the first chance of the game, when Valeri Larutzov was forced into handling Alojz Velikan's underhit backpass with Louis Ratsiraka bearing down on him. However, the resulting indirect free kick was cleared and Sag Aloo hit the rebound wide. It was Aston Villa who opened the scoring, though, with Jordan Yamblou's 22nd-minute shot deflecting off United captain Stuart Pantner and past Reagan. Yamblou scored again just after half-time, almost bursting the net after being played in by Villa captain Roger Dempston, while United never really looked like threatening the Arsenal goal. Towards the end of the game, Sag Aloo accidentally caught Valeri Larutzov with his boot as the Russian goalkeeper bravely dropped on a loose ball, resulting in Almunia requiring several minutes of treatment. He attempted to carry on, but was soon replaced by Angus McGulloch (Rob McGulloch's grandson). Jordan Odemwingie pulled a goal back for United in the final minute, but it was too little, too late for the Red Devils, who swapped places with Aston Villa in the league table, dropping back to fourth. category:leubantia